Fresh off
some killer premiere ratings, things are looking up for The CW's new series,
"The 100." Of course, the numbers could change after episode 2 airs on Wednesday (March 26), but for now, it's one of the highest-rated new shows for the network. It even built upon its lead-in series' audience of "Arrow." And that stars couldn't be happier at the early success.

"We're all very, very pleased," series lead Eliza Taylor tells
Zap2it. "The whole ratings system is so new to me so I wasn't really sure what all of it meant until someone broke it down for me. When I found out what it meant, I was so, so happy and overwhelmed. I couldn't have imagined a better way to kick off the series. It's really, really great. Well, a good start, anyway."

And Taylor, who plays Clarke, the main character on the post-apocalyptic Earth, can't wait for viewers to see what's coming next after
the shocking series premiere that ended with Jasper getting a spear thrown clean through him by ...
something lurking out in the woods. "The way that I played it was just total shock. I don't think you can really process something like that happening right in front of you in the moment that it happens," Taylor says. "It's just so inconceivable. Especially since they thought they were the only humans on Earth. It's a huge shock. The next thing that runs through their minds is just, survival mode. Get out of here, warn the others."

So not only are the 100 teens under attack, they're also
not as alone on Earth as they thought. Will viewers meet the "humans" that survived the nuclear apocalypse, who have been living on the radiation-soaked planet for the past 97 years? "Yes, absolutely. Throughout the series we definitely get a much better idea of who they are and
why they are," Taylor teases. "I don't want to give away too much but you'll definitely be getting to know them in the two or three episodes."

While she couldn't spoil everything, Taylor does reveal that the native humans aren't attacking out of malice. "I think that the way these other people, these tribes have lived on Earth is very different than the way that we've lived up on The Ark," Taylor says. "Then this giant thing comes down from space, and spits out all these people in strange clothes with technology, and it's really strange for them and very scary. That's why they've retaliated. But this is only just the beginning. You'll see that play out."

So does Jasper make it through the attack alive, or is he the third fatality on Earth? "The episode picks up seconds directly after Jasper's been speared, and they decide to run away," Taylor says. "But they do hear some sort of a scream, and they don't know who it comes from but Clarke's intuition tells her that Jasper's alive. So she leads a team to go on a mission to go and find him and find out whatever it was that hurt him."

That mission will continue to split the camp even more between its two leader: Clarke and her rival Bellamy. "Bellamy and Clarke's intentions are very different. She wants what's best for all of their lives and she thinks that means The Ark has to come down," Taylor says. "But Bellamy's idea of what's best for everyone is really what's best for him, and that's if The Ark doesn't come down. He doesn't want to be punished for shooting the Chancellor. I think Clarke detects that there is something more to this guy and that he doesn't want these kids to be free. He wants to be free. So she definitely has a hard time with the way that he runs things."

While angry sparks are flying between Clarke and Bellamy, sparks of a different kind are flying between Clarke and Finn, the good-looking daredevil who helps her stop to smell the roses once in a while. "Oh, absolutely, they are extremely attracted to each other," Taylor says. "And I think that Clarke has never really felt like this with anyone before and it's possible that Finn hasn't either. But it is hard having any kind of romance or relationship in the kind of circumstances they're in, as you can imagine. But it will come to a point where they cannot deny it any longer."

Things aren't looking good for former-BFFs Clarke and Wells, however, since Clarke thinks that Wells is the reason her father was executed. "The thing about Wells and Clarke is that Clarke thinks she's never going to forgive him. She has completely made up her mind about her feelings for Wells," Taylor says. "But I think that fans can expect to see that change a little bit. At the end of the day, Wells is a good guy and he really cares about her. She does see that in him eventually."

While "The 100" is split between two story lines -- the teens down on Earth and the adults monitoring them in space on The Ark -- viewers will get to see flashbacks of Clarke and Wells during happier times, with their families on The Ark, before things took a turn for the worse. Taylor loved being able to film the flashbacks because it meant a change of scenery from the nature sets she's usually on.

"It was fantastic. I got to film on that set in the first episode which was great because it really gave me a sense of what Clarke was losing," Taylor says. "Shooting the flashbacks was a cool experience because I got to play a younger version of Clarke, a happier version. It was fun. I also loved getting to interact with Paige Turco who plays my mother and Isaiah Washington."

So what is Taylor most excited for fans to see from Wednesday's (March 26) all-new episode, "Earth Skills?"

"Ooh, that's a tough question," Taylor says with a laugh. "I'm excited for fans to see the show take a darker turn. It's a much darker series than it may have seemed at the beginning, and it really starts to take a turn in this episode. It's really exciting for me."